The first scene of the movie, in which Tariq and Sparks are together in the car, demonstrates that Hollywood movies portrays African-Americans men as criminals. In this scene, while driving by, Sparks smokes weed, even though he doesn’t know what kind of drug it is, and Tariq advises him the best drugs he could get. “… I call that Alice in Wonderland. You’d be lost like Alicia out this bitch” (Tariq). Next, they start talking about “horny women” and how easy they can get any women they want. After few miles the car stops in an abandoned warehouse, then, they get out of the car and Sparks puts a black mask on, Tariq thinks he is exaggerating on using a mask. Then, they open the truck, and there is a black man tie up and gagged. The man begs…
In today’s world, with the increase in the reporting of police brutality and political tensions on the rise as well the world is on the edge of something that is similar to the events that happened in Do The Right Thing. A movie about the results of when the tensions and the heat of the climate run high resulting in a breakout that requires characters to do the right thing. After watching the film, the audience will be asking the same questions about their own actions. Spike Lee’s film Do The Right Thing uses film elements such as color, narration, and the movement of the camera to tell a story about racial tension in the 20th century. The audience should take away from the film the need to do what is fair in this world.…
For my movie, I picked X-Men First Class. The movie follows how the start of X-Men began via Erik Lancher and Charles Xavier. In the film, the villain Shaw, a mutant, is trying to start World War 3 in hopes of causing mutant dominance. The social justice issue related to this film is race and racial intolerance.…
His movie tells the story of Mookie an African American pizza deliveryman, trying to make a living to support his son and girlfriend. He works for Sal and his two sons Vito and Pino who hold completely opposite attitudes when it comes to race. Then there is Radio Raheem who organizes a boycott at Sal's pizza parlor because of the lack of racial diversity on their wall of fame.…
The movie tells stories about racism between whites, blacks, Latinos, Koreans, Iranians, cops and criminals. The different levels of the rich and the poor, the powerful and powerless are also shown in the movie. The lives of the characters crash against each other. The most people feel prejudice and resentment against people of other groups.…
In this section it explains how lower-income whites feel the impact of fiscal crisis in the United States, and because of this many of these people bought houses that were inexpensive and in which they were closer to their jobs. These things cause a racial tension because now the black and the Latino population are now fighting and competing with the whites for jobs, decent schools housing and neighborhoods in the central city. The article states “ the racial struggle for power and privilege in the central city is essentially a struggle between the have-nots” (286); these different races are mainly competing against each other because they feel that no matter what they are going to stick by their own race. Other problems are between the working class whites and blacks in Chicago; the whites feel that they are being threatened by black crime and black encroachment. It is said that the racial tension has been on black and white encounters; these populations usually cause the racial…
--Blackface: mocked, humiliated, and degraded African Americans. Was a statement of inferiority, and social imperfection. Also implicate the innocence of whites from the injustices experienced by black people…
The setting takes place in a multi-cultural ghetto of Brooklyn, New York. There is racial representation from the black, Latino and Italian perspective, but the bulk of the residents are black. There was no display of positivism as it relates to the black men. Some of the common stereotypes of black men, which include lazy, don’t work, abusers of drug and alcohol, and dead beat fathers were depicted in various scenes throughout the film. Several scenes of three black men hanging out on the corner, drinking, flirting with women and just bullshitting with one another. Lee also shows the racial divide among the people living there and the business owners, none of whom are black earning their living in the ghetto but none willing to live there. By day they conduct their business with various races, but at the end of the business day, they pack up and go back to their suburban neighborhoods. The scene at the Pizzeria between Sal and his oldest son, the son expresses his disgust and embarrassment for having a business there. He tells his father how his friends make fun of him, not for working in a family owned business, but for where the business is located. The film shows no customers in the pizzeria other than the blacks from the community, but there is no representation of them on the walls of the pizzeria, they are all Italians…
In the broadest sense, Do the Right Thing follows the shifting images of blackness in “commercial narrative cinema, attending to its insults and insurgencies, and its rare instances of black empowerment” (Guerrero 3). The dynamic opening dance number operates as an interlude for the later acts that establish the tone of the film. First, in the opening scene, the colorful background shifts from red, yellow, and orange. The red background signifies unbridled rage while yellow and orange suggest a greater restraint, albeit the colors still evoke anger. By tactfully using these colors, Lee hints at the frustrations of a diverse group of marginalized people facing the summer’s heat, police brutality, and gentrification before even showing them in their own neighborhood. However, assisting the colors in adding subtext is the opening dance routine. The aggressive dance routine of characters such as Tina, who shadowboxes, symbolize a strong resistance to authority as Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” swells over the dancing black bodies, as if enticing the audience to join the cause and “fight the powers that be.” While this opening scene may seem quite straightforward when isolated from the rest of the film, it is not as forthright as it seems when looked at as a small part of a…
"Brode emerges [as] a worthy proponent of Disney's democratic vision, wielding a powerful argument for Disney as a forerunner of multicultural values in America. The significance of his work cannot be overstated."…
The representation of race and blackness in the popular culture and mass media has become one of the cultural paradigms in the United States. This has turned into a culture of discussion, one that constantly decodes and repositions blackness as a ticket into the multicultural America. In effect, blackness seems to offer a functionality that is a dominant media trope for representations and debates on race and ability. Even though Americans have made tremendous efforts in tackling social issues in education, social welfare, crime, the economy and collective rebuilding of their identity as a multicultural and a multiracial society, the trope of blackness still exposes myriads of claims, counterclaims and meanings of the nation as a racially formed communality. This is the trend as more cultural signs of “blackness” are still manifested in roles designated for blacks in mass media such as movies and plays. Director of the film Crash (2004) Paul Haggis puts it in the beginning that “it's the sense of touch… we miss… so much that we crash into each other just so we can feel something.” This quote suggests the main theme of the film. The use of the word “touch” and “feel” illustrates a sense of emotion that individuals want to be moved by another to feel the connection between human existences; the search for this human interconnection continues as surrounding issues divide those individuals.…
Shelton Jackson, formally known as Spike Lee, has established himself as a well respected American film director, producer, writer, and actor known for bringing to attention the issues of identity, racism, and socialization towards the black community in his work. In the film “Do The Right Thing” we can tie in the idea of W.E.B. Du Bois’s double consciousness when examining the pivotal role of the character Mookie. Throughout the film Mookie is constantly walking on a thin line between two highly segregated social groups, which as a result leaves Mookie torn to where his place in society should stand.…
Today in the society in which we live in the word oppression has taken on a whole new level especially in America the land of the free and where equal rights are supposed to be for every-one. Racism is seen in so many different places that it takes on so many different meanings and misrepresentations. From ethnicity, religion, the work place and sports racism prospers. Dating back to the beginning of times people have always looked at people differently because of the color of their skin, what their religious preference maybe or the difference in opinions of how one thinks. Even in 2017, we are still dealing with issues of racism that many people want to sweep under the rug and not deal with nor come up with a solution where we can move forward…
Both of these of these films, "Do the Right Thing" and "Two Towns of Jasper" relate to the theory of exclusive multiculturalism. Exclusive multiculturalism is when a group of people only teaches of their own culture to restore one 's pride and self-esteem in their own culture. This in turn also creates a sense of ethnocentricity within the group. In the Spike Lee film "Do the Right Thing", every race has great pride in their own culture and shows it openly within their community of Bed-Sty, Brooklyn. Each group, the Italians, the blacks, the Hispanics, the Koreans and the white policemen, segregate themselves because they have all created their own ethnocentricity. They not only have pride in their own culture, but refuse to accept others. They 're community lacks cultural tolerance. Though "Two Towns of Jasper" also represents…
RACISM IN AMERICA If someone asked you what it would be like to live in a perfect world, how would you reply? Many people might say something like, "A place without and arguments or fighting." Others might say "A place where there is not pollution." But, has anyone one ever thought to say, "A place without racism."? For some Americans, racism has never even crossed their minds. For others, it is something they have to live with everyday. In some societies in America, racism isn't even a factor, all citizens of the community get along. But, in other societies, racism is a case that could be life threatening. Racism, in definition, is "the belief that humanity is divided into stratified genetically different socks called races; according to it's adherent's racial differences make one group superior to another." (Ethics; Walker, Randolph Meade, 722) If you are a racist, you believe in racism. Racists will often claim that members of their own race or minority are "mentally, physically, morally and/or culturally superior to those of other races." (The World Book Encyclopedia; Pettigrew, Thomas F., 62) For these reasons, many racists think they deserve special rights or privileges. The Bill of Rights was written a little under 200 years ago, yet controlling racism in America is still a task no one can seem to over take. In South Carolina, a Confederate flag still waves high over the capitol for everyone to see. Is the kind of example we want to set for the youth of America? To people in Europe, Asia, and on other continents, America is a wonderful place to live. It has been said to be "one of the greatest nations on earth." (Nova; Marshall, Christopher) Yet, our struggle to regulate all of our citizens is a revolutionary war that has yet to and probably will never be won. Slavery is said to be one of the greatest racial tragedies to ever happen in America. Upon the entrance of this new millennium…